'He's not defending Wee, he is defending what is right and what is supposed to be practiced by Umno today: that is, tolerance and respect for all races.'

Perkasa and Khairy on collision course

Kgen: I certainly side with Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin over the ‘village idiot' Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali. This racist has nothing in common with the rural Malays - he does not defend them, he is only using poor Malays as a front for his defence of rent-seeking for himself and his like-minded friends.

MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong never questioned Malay rights; his words have been twisted by Ibrahim. Defending former PM's aide Nasir Safar, who called Indians the descendants of beggars and Chinese the descendants of prostitutes, shows the stinking cesspool inhabited by this village idiot.

Khairy is smart to discern that Perkasa is not good for Umno's electoral chances. Its racism drives away more voters, including liberal Malays, than it brings to BN. Why Najib doesn't distance himself from this ' bodoh kampung ' (village idiot) is beyond me but as a Pakatan Rakyat supporter, I'm not complaining.

Leon Chan: Dear Khairy, your education qualification is far more superior than the ' jaguh kampung '. I believe Malaysians will be 100 percent behind you if you join Pakatan. Your liberal views can never be accepted by the ultras in Umno.

Kama Mustaffa: I'm with Khairy this time. He's not defending Wee, he is defending what is right and what is supposed to be practiced by Umno today: that is, tolerance and respect for all races. The future for Khairy is bright, but he must understand that he is in the wrong party.

Cala: Kama Mustaffa, your comment is fair. I grow up at the fringe of Malay kampungs and I know how the poor suffer. The poor, to be exact, are still languishing in poverty today unless they have educated children who can later land themselves jobs with the civil service. I will be the first to stand up for these rural poor for the poor transcend across all ethnic groups.

KJ (Khairy) should be lauded for speaking out for 1Malaysia and NEM. These two noble plans are meant to protect those who are in need, which we believe a sizable of them is made up of the Malays anyway. So in this respect KJ/Wee are correct to remind the government of the day to take care of those who are in need of scholarships, the deserving Chinese students included. What is wrong with that?

To go by Perkasa's race-based line of argument is to force us to follow past discriminating practices of Umno where national resources were plundered for self- enrichment of Umnoputras under the guise of helping only the Malays. Yes, these are the old stories. The people cannot be fooled forever. Public funds were stolen in a number of ways all in the name of some high-sounding motives (Wain, 2009, p. 149, para 2).

Don't get me wrong. Please do not sing praises for KJ too soon. Obviously being young, KJ has a longer term plan than the Umno-outsourced Perkasa chief. As the name implies, an outsource outfit does not hold any equity stake in the organisation, and is therefore free to speak on whatever he likes.

KJ, on the other hand, may have higher political ambition. To take an extreme position may not be good for him. It is easy to decipher that KJ is the lesser of the two devils as of now.

Jiminy Qrikert: Kama Mustaffa, I agree with your sentiments about Khairy being in the wrong party but I cannot believe that anyone in Umno would have the freedom to act and speak according to their own beliefs without first securing the blessings of the party bosses. And this is particularly so in the case of the chief of the vanguard of Umno who is tasked with defending the interests of the race.

In fact Khairy needs to not only secure permission from the top but also support from his own lieutenants lest they revolt. So, this is a well-orchestrated political ‘ sandiwara ' meant to improve the image of Umno as we head into GE13.

Building bridges with MCA is to put up a united front to lift MCA out of the doldrums as the Chinese have totally rejected the politics of MCA and Umno and so, BN will stand no chance in securing the votes of the Chinese come GE13 unless they act now. This political ‘ sandiwara ' is just a start.

Artchan: Now at least there is one Malay who dare to stand up to the ‘gangster' Ibrahim. Even Najib has no guts to face off with Ibrahim. I may not like KJ, but at least he has courage, which is sadly lacking in many Umno fellows.

Not Confused: These two combatants are an irrelevance. Come GE13, they will be blown away. Just let them slug it out - it is all to Pakatan's benefit anyway. Ibrahim is just a far-right-wing nationalist and has (and will continue to have) no relevance to middle Malaysians of all races, who will hopefully will eventually learn to live and pull together for the benefit of all.

Myrights: Way to go Khairy! Ibrahim's intellect is no match to you. After all, he is only where he is today because of PAS and now, he is just carrying the racism torch for Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He is a nobody if not for Dr M. Once Dr M is gone, he will be blown away like the dirt in the wind. Keep it up, Khairy.

Tan Kian Khim: For the first - and possibly only - time, I find myself agreeing with Khairy. Ibrahim Ali is nothing more than a village thug, the local equivalent of a redneck Ku Klux Klan leader, whose sole raison d'etre is to cynically inflame communal tensions for the purpose of extorting wealth for himself, his cronies and his patron saint Mahathir.

Nadia Mustafa: Go, KJ! Damn this boy's got huge balls. No one in Umno dared take on the racist Ibrahim ‘Katak' and here comes KJ with guns blazing. Finally someone in Umno is saying it like it is, even risking some Malay support. I just hope Najib backs KJ up and doesn't leave him hanging. This gets my vote for the gutsiest, bravest political move of the year.

I have a crush on KJ now...